


Distressing

by LizzardLady



Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Crater's Edge, Drabble, Ecological Dead Zone, Gen, Ocean, One Shot, Prompt One: The silence was worse, Ryley meets a Ghost Leviathan, Short One Shot, The silence was worse, Writing Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 06:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18493171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizzardLady/pseuds/LizzardLady
Summary: Ryley finds himself in a place he's never been before; a place completely devoid of the life he'd come to know.





	Distressing

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I hope you enjoy. This is a fic I wrote for the writing prompt "the silence was worse", and almost completely on a whim. Took me a bit to decide what I was going to write about, but it ended up being my first Subnautica fic! I'm not very happy with the end, but I loved writing everything else haha.

The deeper he ventured, the worse the emptiness grew.

Despite the small signs of life, like the achingly familiar peepers and the ever annoying biters, the open ocean was growing much more desolate of flora and fauna. Overhead, the fragmented light of the sun began to die out, faceted shafts of amber dwindling down like burning firewood. Ryley couldn't help but start to panic; he had no idea where he'd ended up, and the incoming darkness would only make it harder to find his way home. _Home_. Like the makeshift base he'd made in some nook in the shallows was a home to him.

_It'll have to do, for now_ , he always convinced himself. How long is 'for now’?

It felt like an eternity.

All of his philosophy had led him astray from the present, and when he tired eyes were brought back to focus, he realized just how devoid the abyss around him was. The usually insufferable, meager schools of fish had disappeared from sight, leaving the lone survivor to gape. Wherever he'd wandered off to, it was far, _far_ from his comfort zone. Abruptly, the robotic voice from his PDA pervaded throughout the water, dancing around his ears.

“ _Warning: Entering an ecological dead zone. Adding report to databank_ ,” it rang out, artificial tone flat.

Panic rose in his chest, constricting his heart like a ball python constricts its prey. It didn't matter where he'd ended up; he needed to leave. _Now_. He spun around in a circle, looking for anything that might steer him in the direction of 'home’. Nothing but the void all around him, intimidating and imposing. The usual chorus of reefbacks and gasopods was absent, leaving nothing but the bitter sound of silence. Ryley felt himself shiver; not from the cold—he had long since acclimated to the harsh, icy waters of Planet 4546B—but rather from the unnatural quiet. The atmosphere was never this lacking in _anything_.

While the alien life forms were frightening at times, he still loved the sounds they made. Especially the sound of the ghost leviathan, a not-so-gentle giant he often observed from afar. Their calls were almost spine-chilling from up close, but he loved them nonetheless. But, then again, he would really take any noise, right now. Even the sound of a crashfish ending its own life with an explosion. He found that the silence was worse.

That was, until it was broken.

Like shattering glass, a despairing shrill cut through the water, shocking Ryley out of his thoughts. His blood ran cold. He knew that scream anywhere, and it sounded awfully close—

His breath was yanked out of him by sheer force, squeezed from him by the impact of the leviathan class alien ramming straight into him. Bioluminescent skin flashed in his sight, vivid against the black of the dead zone. He just barely avoided getting whipped by its sharp tail, swimming just out of reach of the thrashing tip. Another cry slashed through the space surrounding him, chilling him to the bone. Dark eyes flicked to get a better look at the serpent, widening at the sight.

Out of all the ghost leviathans he'd seen, this one was absolutely ginormous. It was easily double the size of the ones in the grand reef and ghost kelp, and he'd thought those were huge. Oh, how wrong he'd been. This newly discovered mega leviathan was staring him straight in the face, its twelve shining eyes glinting with the thought of a kill. It was almost mesmerizing, in that frightening way that held you still and locked your limbs. Only now did he realize how _beautiful_ it was, with glimmer translucent skin and lustering innards. Time was frozen in that moment, with the two different beings eye to eye, the ideal depiction of predator and prey.

And then, as if the spell broke, everything started moving again.

The leviathan surged forward, its mouth opening to reveal a gaping black hole. Ryley only just avoided getting swallowed whole, his breaths fearful and shallow as the beast circled back to charge at him. It moved beautifully, like that of an eel or a snake, serpentine shape almost out of place with its oddly molded head. He shook his head, snapping himself out of his unnecessary thoughts. This was a life or death moment, he needed to focus.

This close, its angelic call was near deafening. The Aurora survivor had to cover his ears as he swam, having another near death encounter. He felt its odd skin brush against him, knocking him into a somersault and disorienting his sense of direction completely. Through his confused haze, he squinted at the ghost-like alien, stars twinkling in his vision as it approached. Everything felt fuzzy, sight fading in and out. Another wretched cry filled the space around him, enveloping him with a sense of distress. With one last defiant kick of his legs, be unwillingly fell into unconsciousness.


End file.
